The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend

source: The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend

Moviecut—The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend

and Betty Grable had "The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend". While it is extremely difficult to dislike anything Betty Grable ever did, this film really cracks that rule. Every star has an embarrassing moment, and so does every director. In that case, here it is Preston Sturges who spoofs westerns with a crudeness that is sometimes nose-wrinkling as you try to figure out why they even thought this had a chance of being considered entertainment. It is obvious that someone was influenced by the Broadway success of "Annie, Get Your Gun!" (just imagine Grable in that role!), but that at least had good taste, an excellent Irving Berlin score, and stars like Merman and Betty Hutton to help vanish away the corn. What this film ranks is simply insulting. An elderly man is seen teaching a five year old girl how to shoot a gun after one of the weakest opening credits songs, certainly the first here (and followed by such gem title songs as the credits of "The First Traveling Saleslady" and "Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet...") . You get the picture. This isn't Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, or Molly Brown. This is an ill-tempered spitfire who grabs a gun first, shoots second, and apologizes third. In three of the cases of her temperament, a hissing judge (Porter Hall) ends up on the receiving end of her sharp-shooting. The first sequence has Hall (as a character named Alfalfa) being chastised by his nagging wife Elvira (Margaret Hamilton) for being caught in a lady's boudoir. After shooting the judge in the derrière (twice), Grable escapes to the middle of nowhere, and like Mae West in "My Little Chickadee", ends up teaching school. She deals with two over-aged class bullies (one played by Sterling Holloway) by shooting ink bottles off their heads in order to keep them in line. Her old lover (Cesar Romero) shows up to find her interested in prominent townsperson Rudy Vallee and of course, another rumpus is forthcoming. Grable only sings very briefly in this comedy misfire which takes satire too far and turns the country folk of this town into idiots who begin shoot-outs of their own when Holloway and his twin are believed to be killed. Such familiar character players as Hugh Herbert (as a near-sighted doctor), Al Bridge and the annoying El Brendel turn up, although something tells me they (like the others) wished they had turned it down. Olga San Juan suffers racial slurs as the half Mexican/half Native American companion of Grable's. The only really funny sequence are some gags during the final shoot-out (straight out of a 60's sitcom) and the brief exchange between Hamilton and Hall at the beginning. Fortunately short, this film is an albatross in the career of one of our most delightful musical comedy stars who probably knew better the next time to read the script before she consented to appear in her next projects.

Shortly before "Anne Get Your Gun" was released, this film, which I dub "Betty, Get Your Gun" was released, as an often raucous western comedy, starring Betty Grable and Cesar Romero. But, sometimes the duo of Sterling Holloway and Dan Jackson, as the demented Basserman boys, take center stage. They have a penchant for spying on Betty, and acting up in her class or elsewhere. Porter Hall is perfect as the harried Judge O'Toole: the unlucky recipient of 3 bullets from Betty's gun, in a running gag sequence, that lodge in the least damaging place: his buttocks. Hugh Herbert is perfect as the eccentric doctor who pulls these slugs out. Rudy Vallee plays a dapper wealthy bachelor, who owns a gold mine, and competes with Cesar for Betty's heart. Cesar is a handsome rogue who has a love-hate relationship with Betty. .......During the credits, and at the end, the peppy title song is sung. Rather early on, onstage, Betty sings the melodious "Every Time I meet You", accompanied by a barbershop quartet. This was composed by Josef Myrow and Mack Gordon. Later, in a private setting, Rude Vallee, along with Betty, sing the standard "In the Gloming"......The silliness occasionally gets out of hand, but on the whole I liked it. See this short second feature film at YouTube.

On its own The Beautiful Blond From Bashful Bend is an OK amusing sort of comedy. Why it has inspired a cult status is beyond me. How often can Porter Hall get shot in the hind quarters and have it still be funny is carrying a joke too far. Betty Grable raised out on the frontier by her grandfather was taught to be a dead shot at an early age, the better to take care of herself when Gramps played by Russell Simpson is no longer around. She gets real good at it. When she's older and a saloon entertainer she's lost her heart to a no good gambling man played by Cesar Romero. When she finds Romero dallying with Pati Behrs, she goes hunting for him six gun in hand. Only Betty doesn't check her target and it's the local circuit judge Porter Hall who is getting a little quiet time in one of the upstairs rooms that gets it in the rear. If you were married to Margaret Hamilton you might look for some quiet time also. Before justice can be served, Betty flees with her sidekick Olga San Juan disguised as a schoolteacher and her Indian maid. But Romero goes after her and all of them get embroiled in a town feud where Betty gets a few time to display her shooting skills. They have to deal with such town folk as Rudy Vallee, El Brendel, Georgia Caine, Emory Parnell, and a pair of oafish juveniles in Sterling Holloway and Dan Jackson. According to Tom McGee's biography on Betty Grable she was involved in a three way tug of war over the film with director Preston Sturges and studio head Darryl Zanuck. It was not a happy shoot for her though her exuberant performance would not let you think so. The Beautiful Blond From Bashful Bend is minor league Sturges when you compare it to the hits he cranked out at Paramount like The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels, Hail The Conquering Hero,and Miracle Of Morgan's Creek.

I loved this movie--but I love most old films better than the newer ones. This one was hilarious and timeless. Any schoolteacher should really love and appreciate this hilarious film. I had the great honor of meeting Mr. Romero also one time, and he was the most friendly, gracious (and good-looking) man. I didn't know he had once been a big star at one time! Ms. Grable showed she had fantastic comedic timing in the hilarious well-colored flick. If you love to laugh like I do--watch it! Shows Ms. Grable had brains, as well as looks!

If I hadn't just seen his double-threat credit moments before this movie started I would have been hard put to identify it as the work of Preston Sturges. Adrift from both his home studio, Paramount, and his repertory company of actors he is indeed a shadow of his former self. True, they gave him the reigning (still just about) Queen of the Fox lot, Betty Grable, and solid support Cesar Romero, but it wasn't really enough and it's not hard to see why this effort did for his Hollywood career. There are touches of the old talent and it's possible that those who claim it a satirical triumph years ahead of its time may just have something of a point but it's equally easy to dismiss this one-trick pony of sharpshooter Grable missing intended target Romero - the boyfriend who done her wrong - and putting a slug in Porte Hall where it will do the most good as a wild turkey.

'The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend' could and should have been good. One does indeed expect quite a lot from Preston Sturges, whose prime period was one of the best of any director with particularly the likes of 'The Lady Eve', 'The Miracle of Morgan's Creek', 'Hail the Conquering Hero' and my favourite of his 'Sullivan's Travels'. And from a cast that includes Betty Grable, Cesar Romero and Sterling Holloway. It is unfortunate that instead 'The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend' was a big disappointment, as an overall film and when you take into account what it had going for it. It is not difficult to see why it was considered a major disappointment with critics at the time, and it is especially a big disappointment by Sturges standards (being the film that was his career death knell somewhat, and of all of the films seen of his, which is nearly all, it does get my pick for his worst). Will agree though with others that 'The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend' is not that awful or that it is that much of a catastrophe (so agree far more with its slightly improved over-time re-appraisal), but it is severely wanting in too many areas and is not a good representation really of all involved. Despite the disappointment felt watching 'The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend', there are things that make it watchable. The closest the film gets to being beautiful is the production values, with the truly lavish Technicolor, Sturges' first Technicolor film on a side note, being the main reason to see it. The production design and photography are fabulous. The songs may not be exactly memorable, but they are fun and pleasant. Particularly "Every Time I Meet You", which is charming and a welcome lighter moment. "In the Gloaming" is close behind. A few funny moments here and there, though they are too far and between, particularly with Hugh Herbert and the fantastically nuts finale. The cast generally do well with what they have, with Grable particularly shining followed by suave Cesar Romero and wonderfully daffy Herbert. Margaret Hamilton is also amusing, who also bags one of the funnier moments at the start. Sterling Holloway however was never more irritating than here, playing one of the Basserman Boys characters, characters so grating and unbearingly over-played that they very nearly single-handedly bring the film down. They don't quite though because there are other things wrong. It is hard to believe that 'The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend' is a Sturges film in direction and writing, his direction is very heavy-handed and suggestive that he was both not interested in the material and struggling to control it, attributes that are not like him at all. The script is little better, the wit, sharpness, bite, sophistication and cynical slyness are barely there and even less so the natural wackiness and daring, instead the dialogue and gags on the most part are far too vulgar, brash and over-time feel so stretched beyond the limit that much of the humour falls flat. Few amusing and charming moments aside, the story has moments where it is far too slight and then there are other times where one really wishes that the film was longer and had a slower pace. Because much of it is too rushed and the mounting complications get increasingly absurd and confused and it becomes exhausting. The characters were either bland or irritating, and little more than caricatures. Most of the cast have far too little to do, Rudy Vallee especially is wasted. Concluding, watchable but very underwhelming. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I came onto this film as one of a large purchased collection, and after reading a batch of reviews on various film sites didn't expect much from it; there were numerous citings that it was perhaps Grable's worst film, that it wasn't vintage Sturges, that it was loud farce devoid of virtues except for an expert use of full Technicolor. And color it has, And it is a loud farce. But although it completely lacks the soft focus turn of the century costumer that Grable so often appeared it, and barely gives the viewer time to absorb the nutty humor, Beautiful Blonde, from it's initial scenes with Grandpa Russell Simpson teaching his little curly-haired granddaughter to reduce bottles to smithereens with a careful aim to the last mad gunfight, a loud and vulgar and often screamingly funny parody of dozens of final shoot-outs in hundreds of western hero epics, this film exudes a sense of madness, of a cast nearly out of control in the spirit of farce. One critic mentions how often Olga San Juan as "Conchita" the dark- skinned servant, is insulted—but failed to remark on her hilarious comebacks, a few surely cut off mid-sentence by censorship concerns. If a careful viewer listens carefully (often hard to do in this raucous unendingly noisy film), there are ample double-entendres as well as the beginnings of a limerick that rhymes with "Nantucket." Surely most alert viewers will fill in the blank. This film demands your attention, and if you do not have the patience for noise and chaos as part of your experience, you may actively dislike it. Grable seems to be having a great time, especially as the substitute teacher with a golden gun, confronted by a pair of demented youths out of some clueless Beavis-world, one an off-the-wall Sterling Holloway. And the film is certainly worth watching just to see so many familiar character actors taking full advantage of their few lines—whether it's Margaret Hamilton, Hugh Herbert or for a brief moment, Marie Windsor in full-on scarlet feather drag—the film is so short, so fast-paced, that co-star Cesar Romero almost seems insignificant, and seems to be plot window-dressing. Which he is! Of course this is no Palm Beach Story, that brilliant farce about romance and love and money: nor has it the zany coherence of The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. But it reflects the scattershot, nutty world that Sturges created so often, and seems like his final party before the silence descended--and you are invited.

When you hear the name Preston Sturges you expect great things, but this isn't one of his best efforts. Yes, for the gentlemen viewer it has Betty Grable in a range of corsets playing a pseudo Annie Oakley, and for the ladies it has Rudy Vallee (admittedly rather past his prime). For comedy value it has the peerless Sterling Holloway, but this isn't his finest hour. Plotwise there isn't much here. Grable has an on-off relationship with Cesar Romero which sometimes causes her to go off toting a gun. Twice in a row Porter Hall's judge is in the way, and off she goes on the run with her Mexican friend to impersonate a schoolteacher. And that's it. There's a couple of songs, but Grable and Vallee's musical talents are wasted and the only real pull of this film is the fact it is in Technicolor. Given the number of second-rate features which were at the time this was made, that's no draw. And even Grable misses her target here.